Friday 27 May 2011

The Kitchen Front - Time for Tea!

Thank you again for all your lovely and helpful comments on my last post!  I'm sure you will all be glad to know I've finally got myself a teapot! Hurrah!! Though I'm not sure if I am lucky or unlucky; lucky as I found it in the very first Charity shop I attacked, which was quite a result especially as none of the others had any at all!
Tea Anyone? Brewed in my spiffing new teapot, in a very RAF Blue and some yummy Potato Biscuits
Unlucky? Well after reading the lovely Miss Marie's comment about the Backyard Market near Brick Lane I feel a bit disappointed as I would have loved to peruse said stalls, as I had the perfect excuse to buy a tea set!! Well, perhaps I still can? I don't have any proper china tea cups yet, only mugs so I ought to buy some, surely it would be rude not to!


Also thanks to another lovely comment left on my last post, I now have the most perfectly patriotic little tea cosy pattern to knit up for my new Pot! - Too many P's in that sentence perhaps!!
How Cute is this Cosy!!!
The lovely Anna who blogs over at 'Audrey's tea shop' has created this wonderful Union Jack Tea Cosy Pattern, which she has made available for us to download on Ravelry for free! Ain't she kind!! I can't wait to give it a go!

So, on to the tea! Well it tastes really really lovely it has a much fuller flavour than my PJ tips, it has much more taste without being too strong or bitter. It actually reminded me of the tea I used to drink growing up. My parents only ever drink loose tea as my Mum was convinced that tea bags are 'just the dust and sweepings off the floor' this is not quite true see wiki but none the less, it took them until quite recently to surrender to the charms of the humble bag!



Inside of the tin there is a handy little leaflet which Henrietta Lovell (the tea lady) explains how to brew the perfect cuppa - it's quite technical you know - she also explains that due to the fact the leaves are of a high quality they can be 're-infused at least twice' which is great because it lowers the cost a little. There is also some rather interesting info about the creation of the tea which you can also see here.


So to go with my hearty vintage brew I thought I would cook up some tasty wartime treats.  I had intended to have a bash at these Carrot Scones that Land Girl 1980 recently posted about (which sound scummy). But alas on closer inspection if my fridge I found I had only one rather wrinkly looking carrot and decided it was probably best to avoid disappointment (and possible poisoning) and have a look at something else. So after nosing through some of my wartime recipe books, I plumped for some Potato Biscuits.

Plain or Sweet Potato Biscuits
Ingredients
4 oz Plain Flour
4 oz Rolled Oats or Barley Kernels
1-2 teaspoon of salt (only a pinch if making sweet)
3 oz Margarine
4 oz Cold Mashed Potatoes
2 oz Sugar only sweet version

The thinner you make these the better!
1. Mix the flour, rolled oats and the salt.
2. Rub in the margarine.
3. Knead in the mashed potato until it forms a stiff dough. No liquid should be used.
4. Roll out the pastry to 1/8 inch thick cut into biscuits.
5. Place on a baking tray and cook in a slow oven until crisp but not brown (about 15-20 mins)
6Cool on a cake rack or anyway the air will circulate around them to make sure they will stay crisp.


I made the sweet version which was really quite nice, I found that is is definitely better to roll them on the thin side as they are quite heavy and stodgy otherwise.

I will leave you with a video of the RAF Tea Blitz Party which the lovely Annabell 'The Vintage History Student' pointed me towards. It looks like a rather fab affair! Enjoy!

Wendy x

9 comments:

  1. Well done on your new aquisition! That teapot's a fab colour and I'm loving the cosy.
    I'm definitely going to give those potato biscuits a try, they look fab. xxx

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  2. Wow, the biscuits with potato sound interesting, maybe they'd work warm with stewed fruit if you accidentally make them too stodgy?

    Oh, and that teacosy will look perfect with your new pot.

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  3. Ooooo....I've never had potato biscuits before, but they sound really nice! Think I will have to try them soon! :)

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  4. Sorry to have teased you with the Backyard Market!! You shouldn't be disappointed - I think you've done very well with the teapot you got, it's a lovely colour.

    And if want to visit the market, there's nothing to stop you from perusing without buying... if your willpower can stand it, that is!

    (PS Thanks for the mention x)

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  5. I blush! Thanks for the mention (I think my teacosy looks particularly fetching against your lovely blog colour scheme!). You have inspired me to do some making do and mending this weekend, so I dug out my lovely vintage wartime book 'Economy Knitting and Patchwork'. I'm going to work on a cushion cover I think, but I saw this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28463095@N07/5765782993/in/photostream
    and thought you might appreciate a look, given the theme of your recent posts. I love the language in this book!

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  6. Those potato cakes sound interesting - the perfect tea time snack for my toddler i think. I might just give them a go.

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  7. Thank you all Ladies for your comments!

    Lakota - ooh stewed fruit that sounds delishous I'll have to try that next time!

    Miss Marie - Oh no not dissapointed, Thank you for letting me know about the market! I will be having a wander there very soon not sure I have the required will power though!!:)

    Anna- Ooh Thank you! I will take a look and thanks agian for letting me use your piccy!! I will be starting my cosy this weekend!!

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  8. tea pot is cute,your potatoe cakes look so good.
    I need to make papa pancakes now.

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